He is Worthy

Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

Revelation 5:2-5

You aren't good enough to get into heaven. 

Just as the only one worthy to open the scroll is Jesus; the only one worthy of Heaven is Jesus. Instead of reserving Heaven for Himself alone, God chose to share Heaven with you by making you His child and heir to His heavenly kingdom. God doesn’t lower the standards of Heaven to let you in; He elevates you. Through the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit, God transforms you to make you also worthy of Heaven as a bearer of His image and continually shaped into His glory. The more the Holy Spirit molds you, the more you bear the image of God and the more you add to the glory of Heaven. As you become conformed to Christ’s life (Galatians 2:20), you add to the glory of the One who is worthy by your imitation of Him.

You aren't bad enough to get into hell. 

Because mankind was made in God’s image, every person bears a measure of His glory. To be fit for hell, God’s image would have to be stripped away from a person first. Like acetone is used to slowly remove paint and fingernail polish, so hell is a slow process of removing God’s image from a person. God doesn’t send people to hell for punishment, they choose to go there because they would rather have God stripped away from their life that acknowledge that He alone is worthy of Heaven. “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matthew 25:41). Hell wasn’t prepared for people; it was prepared for those who don’t bear the image of God.

You never were and never will be worthy of God's grace.

Those in Heaven aren’t more worthy of God’s grace than those who are in hell. God’s grace is freely given to all. Those who receive God’s grace are those who acknowledge He is worthy to receive glory and want to reflect His glory back to Him. Those who reject God’s glory are those don’t think He is worthy and want to take away glory from Him. John weeps because he, like all created things, wants someone to be worthy of glory. The only one worthy of glory is the One who gave up glory (Philippians 2:7), and continues to give up glory as he graciously gives it to us without losing any Himself. Because mankind was made with the imprint of God’s image, we are not worthy of hell, and those who are in hell are those who seek to rob God of His glory. They take the glory they are able to steal from God—which isn’t any—away from His presence. Those who are in Heaven aren’t more worthy of glory. They are the ones who give glory to the only One who deserves it.

Mark Powers